Glanbia Nutritionals, a global nutrition solutions and cheese business, recently partnered with ingredient supplier Ixoreal Biomed to optimize its ashwagandha extract, KSM-66, with its Nutrashield Technology, a microencapsulation technology which is used as a protective matrix and flavor masker.
 
KSM-66 is an ashwagandha extract which has a unique, solvent-free extraction process, and combining it with NutraShield technology has enabled manufacturers to use the powder extract as a carrier of the flavor masker during the encapsulation process. This provides protection for the ashwagandha when included in a formulation that contains other vitamins and minerals with off notes, and allows for higher ashwagandha inclusion rate in products to better meet the dosages required to achieve clinical efficacy, Glanbia Nutritionals said.
 
According to Glanbia Nutritionals, NutraShield has a variety of effects on given nutrients or ingredients, and can mask odors and flavors, improve stability, control color intensity, convert oils to powders, and delay the release of nutrients. Other areas of the company’s expertise are to enhance a wide range of vitamins, minerals, botanicals, amino acids, sweeteners, carbohydrates, fats, fibers, and acids, in a wide range of delivery formats.
 
“The combination of such a well-established and superior ashwagandha extract, like KSM-66 Ashwagandha, with our decades of experience in nutrient optimization provides customers with a powerful ingredient solution for their ready-to-mix powders, ready-to-drink beverages, chewables, gummies, and effervescents,” Dr. Ram Nimmagudda, senior advisor of bioactive product technology for Glanbia Nutritionals, said.